Help me get my mojo back!

Seems I’ve lost my mojo. Can’t decide the cause (winter blah’s, hot training water, demoralizing training group, chronic injuries, what?) so it’s hard to know how to fight back. I don’t feel depressed, but when I get in the pool, I’m acting depressed. It’s like I’m afraid to get out of breath – or like I’m just not interested in working that hard any more. All of a sudden it’s a struggle to go to the gym. In fact, this morning, I didn’t. I have a great excuse, with “frozen shoulder” (how does that happen to a swimmer?) so upper body weight lifting is OUT for a while, but I could go and work on abs and legs. But instead I slept in. I even scratched a meet this month. Haven’t done that in a while; I’ve scratched events, but not an entire meet. Anybody have any great ideas on how to get that spark back? So I’m excited for the race again? Excited to “get after it”? Thanks in advance! I think the first thing I'd say is: cut yourself some slack for the things you've not done, and give yourself permission not to do them. It's not your career. It's a hobby, and if you're not enjoying it, take a step back. You'll feel much better if going is a positive choice. That said, you probably still want to stay fit. Consider trying something different for a while to stay active. I'd also recommend reminding yourself what you love about swimming. Take some time to list it out on paper. You'll probably a) be surprised about how much is there and b) how you'd forgotten or started taking some of them for granted. Focus only on those things, at least for a while. Forget goals, times, yardage, structure.... Do it for the love of it, or don't.. I'd also reiterate what That Guy suggests about trying something new, whether USRPT or something else, as a pure experiment and because it's potentially interesting, not necessarily because it might lead to something longer term.

Seems I’ve lost my mojo. Can’t decide the cause (winter blah’s, hot training water, demoralizing training group, chronic injuries, what?) so it’s hard to know how to fight back. I don’t feel depressed, but when I get in the pool, I’m acting depressed. It’s like I’m afraid to get out of breath – or like I’m just not interested in working that hard any more. All of a sudden it’s a struggle to go to the gym. In fact, this morning, I didn’t. I have a great excuse, with “frozen shoulder” (how does that happen to a swimmer?) so upper body weight lifting is OUT for a while, but I could go and work on abs and legs. But instead I slept in. I even scratched a meet this month. Haven’t done that in a while; I’ve scratched events, but not an entire meet. Anybody have any great ideas on how to get that spark back? So I’m excited for the race again? Excited to “get after it”? Thanks in advance! I think the first thing I'd say is: cut yourself some slack for the things you've not done, and give yourself permission not to do them. It's not your career. It's a hobby, and if you're not enjoying it, take a step back. You'll feel much better if going is a positive choice. That said, you probably still want to stay fit. Consider trying something different for a while to stay active. I'd also recommend reminding yourself what you love about swimming. Take some time to list it out on paper. You'll probably a) be surprised about how much is there and b) how you'd forgotten or started taking some of them for granted. Focus only on those things, at least for a while. Forget goals, times, yardage, structure.... Do it for the love of it, or don't.. I'd also reiterate what That Guy suggests about trying something new, whether USRPT or something else, as a pure experiment and because it's potentially interesting, not necessarily because it might lead to something longer term.